Nathalia Vaelheim
---- The first thing one must understand when dealing with Nathalia, is that she is part of the noble line of Vaelheim. Centered within the Silver Marches, more specifically within the city of Silverymoon, the family was originally a line of Moon Elves. A line that has been founded on non-traditional philosophies, at least for most socities. The founders of Vaelheim were both Moon Elves, and were adventurers who obtained titles of nobility after a great service rendered to the city of Silverymoon; from an Elven perspective, this family is a young one. From there, they've accepted others within their folds as employees and friends, creating a network of contacts and settling in directly within the city. What was at first a family of small nobility, grew and expanded as the two founders retired from adventuring; wine became their trade, and with the help of magically regulated conditions - spells and incantations jealously kept by the family - they became successful within their own region, bringing in a modest but acceptable sum of coins. It was enough to satisfy the needs of the family and it's employees. Only recently has the Vaelheim family expanded their trade, seeking out other regions than limiting themselves to the Silver Marches. The third generation of Vaelheim - Nathalia's parents - took the decision of spilling out from the Marches in order to obtain more monetary gain. Their motives isn't greed however; a portion of the coins the Vaelheim family gathers is used to promote scholarship at the great academies of their precious city. Secondly, the full blooded Vaelheim's have remained magicall active throughout the years, and thus part of this coins goes into making magical items to support the city's needs by equipping the Knights in Silver; Silverymoon's first line of defense. While not the biggest family of nobles, they are heavily invested in the well being of their city and the areas around it. It is not a rare sight to sometimes see members of the family, be they employees of otherwise, in the other cities of Luruar. Furthermore, due to the proven expertise of the family, the Lords' Alliance asks for their help from time to time as the Vaelheim family has an history of producing a few well intentioned adventurers, just like the founders. And of course, they readily answer the call. One could say that adventuring is almost a tradition for the family. There's even a large tome titled "The Vaelheim's Guide to Effecient Adventuring", meant for those who would party in such a crazy endaevour; as the current matriarch of the family puts it. Additionally, the Vaelheim family does not only count Elves and Humans in their number; there are also a fair number of Kobolds, the remnants of the Shadowscale tribe. After several kind gestures towards the group of Kobolds who had lost their home to a dragon rival to the one they used to serve, they decided to throw their allegiance towards the Vaelheim family. Ever since the second generation, the Shadowscale tribe was absorbed within the folds of Vaelheim; not as slaves or servants, but as employees equal to the others. The Fourth Generation Nathalia isn't the first Half-Elf born from Vaelheim blood. She is the second daughter of Merithiel Vaelheim, whom at the time, thought her Elven husband dead due to the years that had passed after his disappeance. While her first daughter supported her during this time, Merithiel eventualy found peace and moved on with her life, finding interest in another man, this time human. Leoric Dalesmund thus became Nathalia's father. Leoric was a traditionalist, teaching human values to young Nathalia along with finding ways to make sure her daughter could be a proper lady; the man is actually simply afraid to see harm come her way, but despite this he did his best to respect the tradition of carving one's own place of the Vaelheim line, something he absolutely agreed to before Nathalia's birth as he himself was a talented swordsman. While Leoric was busy making little Nathalia a lady, Merithiel saw to the rest of her education, sending her to the academies of Silverymoon; this is where she would begin to learn about arcane magic, along other more basic knowledge. Her Elven mother was just as coveting, but for different reasons; her perception of time was far from human, and thus to her, Nathalia is still but a child to this present day. However, she had to accept the fact that her daughter grew up as human would, with the possibility of living longer than one. Between these two, young Nathalia had her hands full when it came to things to learn; however it didn't end there. Cedric Drannel, a priest once saved by the current patriarch of the family (Tuòn Vaelheim, formerly Tuòn Galanodel) and that used to be in the service of the family, taught little Nathalia about the deities and philosophical views. By far, this is the person Nathalia enjoyed spending her time with during her youth; she found the man fascinating due to all the accumulated wisdom. He became Nat's childhood hero, despite his adsence of heroic feats. One Kobold in particular was formerly assigned to look over the young Half-Elf; Ziky, of the former Shadowscale tribe. At first, for the adult dragonkin, it was strange to look over the hatchling of a human-elf combination, but over time he had grown attached to her. When came the time that he was to be relieved of his guard over the child, he asked instead to become her personal bodyguard. A request that was granted to him; since then, the two are inseperable, a friendship that has led either sides to learn about the other's race. It's her lack of human interactions beyond controlled environment during her youth that led to her agoraphobia; the fear of crowds. Perhaps due to being conditionned to it, she was however perfectly fine without much contact outside of her family and her family's employees and friends. Tragedy and Change One event in particular shaped Nathalia's teenage years; the death of her tutor, Cedric Drannel. He was a victim of the cult of Shar; a needless death, just a victim of the circumstances; at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a traumatic experience for Nathalia, who escaped after witnessing her friend and tutor's demise, as he was immolated to his death by a spell. It became the origin of Nathalia's pyrophobia. And she would've been next had she stayed frozen in terror as Cedric was executed on the spot. This cave where they had gone, a simple walk out from Silverymoon, was supposed to be deserted; a place where Cedric came to meditate alone, in fact. But it seems fate would have it otherwise for the unfortunate priest of Selûne and a now teenage Nathalia. After that event, and Nathalia warning her family which then warned the Knights in Silver, the Half-Elf became nothing but a shadow of herself. Only after making the decision of worshipping Selûne as Cedric once did that she began to recover, months after the incident. Most of the time isolating herself in the small chambers of Vaelheim's estate dedicated to religious practices, she took it upong herself to look through Cedric's possessions, which were left untouched, in order to further her knowledge about religion. A path she started with the aged priest, and one that she continued alone. Meanwhile, she also continued to study the arcane arts as well while avoiding fire spells, effectively doubling her charge of things to learn; her social life was unexistant for the majority of her teenage years as a result. When possible however, Ziky made sure that Nathalia would take breaks and go out a little; at least once per tenday. This led to gradually easen up her case of agoraphobia, which ultimately was a positive change; Nathlia strived within small groups, however big crowds still affected her quite a bit, unless she had learned about them individually beforehand; not always a luxury she had. Eventually, those outings encouraged by Ziky brought Nathalia to gain an interest towards putting her mostly self thought studies of the divine magics to good use; hospices and even the homes of others were her targets, as the sick and wounded wouldn't come to her. As such, the barely adult Half-Elf went out of her way to provide magical cures for the woes of others, all the in name of Selûne, despite the deity not being directly linked to the concept of healing. Her schedule changed accordingly; gradually, she started to spend more time outside of either her home or the academy, thus reducing the time she spend studying the arcane along with the time she spent with her family. The devotion she had found through the brutal passing of her tutor was undeniable. Merithiel and Leoric view this as a positive change, and did no try to stop her from doing so; her mother encouraged it, while her father reasoned that taking care of those in need was, in essence, a noble cause, thus worth pursuing. During this time, what could almost be considered a ghost surging forth straight from an almost forgotten past, appeared and shook the foundations of what had been established for the Vaelheim family; Merithiel's former husband finally returned, inexplicably. Tuòn Vaelheim, practioner of the arcane arts, was hardly surprised to see the few most notable changes at his family's estate. WIP. ---- ---- Currently, Nathalia is readying herself mentally, physically and in terms of equipment to help the participating Red Empress crew deal with the Guildwar. While she doesn't like the idea of harming others she doesn't consider monsters, knowing that some of the men and women they'll likely be up against will just happen to be doing their job; doing what's necessary to survive in situations that could very well be unforgiving to them. Hence, she prepares herself mentally more than anything else. Regardless, Jha'ahira has provided her with an extra motivation, her words still resonating within her mind as she has a very good reason to push forward. There's one reality people face some days within the city of Neverwinter; there are Kobolds who take refuge within the sewers of the city. Concerned about the well being of the often persecuted creatures, Nathalia and the Vaelheim Kobolds are seeing to it that the ones residing within the sewers aren't killed for the sole reasons of calling these sewers their home. Thus, Ziky, the other Kobolds under the house name, and herself, are making plans to either guide them to a better place to live, or welcome them under the Vaelheim name as well; thus protecting them from possible retaliation from the city of Neverwinter. ---- ---- WIP. ---- ---- WIP. ---- ---- WIP. ---- ---- Here is the section where you can leave your own or your character's comment about Nathalia. While these comments aren't inherently In Character, it can be fun to see what are the thoughts of others about a specific character. Feel free to edit in your own, however please don't change anything else within the page itself! Alternatively, you can leave a comment in the appropriate section below and I will gladly add the provided text to the Other's Words section, and a link to the commenter's character page if it applies. Character Comments * * * Player Comments * * * ---- ---- This is where possibly art of the character may appear. None for now, however!